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Alter Domus: an international financial services provider within the Maltese context Seven years after the founding of Alter Domus in Malta, the company has grown in leaps and bounds. The executive team discuss the factors to which they owe their success, future challenges and the company’s further plans for expansion. By Marie-Claire Grima.
Left to right: Andrew Muscat; Chris Casapinta; Amanda Cini; Przemyslaw Koger
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he financial services industry in Malta had already started developing at a fast pace towards the end of the 2000s, and it was around this time that Chris Casapinta, the Malta Country Executive, realised that there was a space in the market for an international service provider within the local industry. This pushed him to work hard in obtaining the necessary licences, in agreement with the Alter Domus head office in Luxembourg, in order to commence Alter Domus’ operations in Malta from 2011. Alter Domus’ worldwide client base includes top international private equity houses, the largest real estate investors, successful venture capitalists, large listed corporates and private clients. The Group, which was founded in Luxembourg in 2003, now counts 33 offices and desks across five continents, serves nine of the 10 largest private equity houses, six of the 10 largest real estate firms and five of the 10 largest private debt managers in the world. The backing of the company’s formidable global profile helped Chris and the team hit the ground running with their Maltese operation.
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2018
“At that time in 2011, the operation was rather lean, with just myself and two other hard-working colleagues. However, by 2012 we had accumulated a number of important clients. This meant that the operational platform and human resources had to quickly be upgraded to meet our clients’ demands,” Chris says. “Over the years, we have continued to attract top clients and now, we have the second-largest office within the EMEA region of the Alter Domus Group. We currently employ over 130 experienced professionals and we continue to grow at a solid double-digit rate.” Due to the increase in the number of clients, Alter Domus Malta’s operational platform had to change. “We moved from having two large teams – one in fund services and one in corporate services – to six teams, with each team having its own area of specialisation across all our product segments. Having managed to attract a number of prestigious clients over the years has made it easier for us to attract further new clients, and our growth is expected to be exponential.”
Nowadays, Alter Domus Malta is a fullyintegrated provider of Fund Administration and Corporate Services, where its wide range of services is being continuously expanded to cater for the clients’ needs. The range of services includes company formation and fund launch, corporate management, fund administration, accounting and consolidation, corporate and legal compliance, tax compliance, transfer pricing, regulatory services, liquidation and depositary services. “Just recently we have also launched a number of additional services including co-sourcing services – whereby our own staff will fill up posts within our clients’ businesses for the short or medium term; middle office services – which moves beyond back office support to a more value-added middle office function and puts us closer to our asset manager clients; and capital markets. We have been seeing an encouraging number of capital market transactions locally which require assistance in terms of setting up SPVs and listing in the various European stock exchanges, and we are here to help.” 77